Pubdate: Sun, 05 Jan 2014
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2014 The New York Times Company
Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/lettertoeditor.html
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Authors: Susanne Craig and Jesse McKinley

NEW YORK STATE IS SET TO LOOSEN MARIJUANA LAWS

ALBANY - Joining a growing group of states that have loosened 
restrictions on marijuana, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York plans 
this week to announce an executive action that would allow limited 
use of the drug by those with serious illnesses, state officials say.

The shift by Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat who had long resisted legalizing 
medical marijuana, comes as other states are taking increasingly 
liberal positions on it - most notably Colorado, where thousands have 
flocked to buy the drug for recreational use since it became legal on Jan. 1.

Mr. Cuomo's plan will be far more restrictive than the laws in 
Colorado or California, where medical marijuana is available to 
people with conditions as mild as backaches. It will allow just 20 
hospitals across the state to prescribe marijuana to patients with 
cancer, glaucoma or other diseases that meet standards to be set by 
the New York State Department of Health.

While Mr. Cuomo's measure falls well short of full legalization, it 
nonetheless moves New York, long one of the nation's most punitive 
states for those caught using or dealing drugs, a significant step 
closer to policies being embraced by marijuana advocates and 
lawmakers elsewhere.

New York hopes to have the infrastructure in place this year to begin 
dispensing medical marijuana, although it is too soon to say when it 
will actually be available to patients.

Mr. Cuomo's shift comes at an interesting political juncture. In 
neighboring New Jersey, led by Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican 
whose presidential prospects are talked about even more often than 
Mr. Cuomo's, medical marijuana was approved by his predecessor, Jon 
S. Corzine, a Democrat, but was put into effect only after Mr. 
Christie set rules limiting its strength, banning home delivery, and 
requiring patients to show they have exhausted conventional 
treatments. The first of six planned dispensaries has already opened.

Meanwhile, New York City's new mayor, Bill de Blasio, had quickly 
seemed to overshadow Mr. Cuomo as the state's leading progressive politician.

For Mr. Cuomo, who has often found common ground with Republicans on 
fiscal issues, the sudden shift on marijuana - which he is expected 
to announce on Wednesday in his annual State of the State address - 
was the latest of several instances in which he has embarked on a 
major social policy effort sure to bolster his popularity with a 
large portion of his political base.

In 2011, he successfully championed the legalization of same-sex 
marriage in New York. And a year ago, in the aftermath of the mass 
school shooting in Newtown, Conn., Mr. Cuomo pushed through 
legislation giving New York some of the nation's toughest gun-control 
laws, including a strict ban on assault weapons. He also has pushed, 
unsuccessfully so far, to strengthen abortion rights in state law.

The governor's action also comes as advocates for changing drug laws 
have stepped up criticism of New York City's stringent enforcement of 
marijuana laws, which resulted in nearly 450,000 misdemeanor charges 
from 2002 to 2012, according to the Drug Policy Alliance, which 
advocates more liberal drug laws.

During that period, medical marijuana became increasingly widespread 
outside New York, with some 20 states and the District of Columbia 
now allowing its use.

Mr. Cuomo voiced support for changing drug laws as recently as the 
2013 legislative session, when he backed an initiative to 
decriminalize so-called open view possession of 15 grams or less. And 
though he said he remained opposed to medical marijuana, he indicated 
as late as April that he was keeping an open mind.

His shift, according to a person briefed on the governor's views but 
not authorized to speak on the record, was rooted in his belief that 
the program he has drawn up can help those in need, while limiting 
the potential for abuse. Mr. Cuomo is also up for election this year, 
and polls have shown overwhelming support for medical marijuana in 
New York: 82 percent of New York voters approved of the idea in a 
survey by Siena College last May.

Still, Mr. Cuomo's plan is sure to turn heads in Albany, the state's 
capital. Medical marijuana bills have passed the State Assembly four 
times - most recently in 2013 - only to stall in the Senate, where a 
group of breakaway Democrats shares leadership with Republicans, who 
have traditionally been lukewarm on the issue.

Mr. Cuomo has decided to bypass the Legislature altogether.

In taking the matter into his own hands, the governor is relying on a 
provision in the public health law known as the Antonio G. Olivieri 
Controlled Substance Therapeutic Research Program. It allows for the 
use of controlled substances for "cancer patients, glaucoma patients, 
and patients afflicted with other diseases as such diseases are 
approved by the commissioner."

Mr. Olivieri was a New York City councilman and state assemblyman who 
died in 1980 at age 39. Suffering from a brain tumor, he used 
marijuana to overcome some of the discomfort of chemotherapy, and 
until his death lobbied for state legislation to legalize its medical use.

The provision, while unfamiliar to most people, had been hiding in 
plain sight since 1980.

But with Mr. Cuomo still publicly opposed to medical marijuana, state 
lawmakers had been pressing ahead with new legislation that would go 
beyond the Olivieri statute.

Richard N. Gottfried, a Manhattan Democrat who leads the assembly's 
health committee, has held two public hearings on medical marijuana 
in recent weeks, hoping to build support for a bill under which 
health care professionals licensed to prescribe controlled substances 
could certify patient need.

Mr. Gottfried said the state's historical recalcitrance on marijuana 
was surprising.

"New York is progressive on a great many issues, but not everything," he said.

Mr. Gottfried said he wanted a tightly regulated and licensed market, 
with eligible patients limited to those with "severe, 
life-threatening or debilitating conditions," not the broader range 
of ailments - backaches and anxiety, for instance - that pass muster 
in places like California, which legalized medical marijuana in 1996.

"What we are looking at bears no resemblance to the California 
system," Mr. Gottfried said.

While he was aware of the Olivieri statute, he believed it had not 
been implemented because it would have required "an elaborate 
administrative approval process," which he said could be overly 
burdensome on patients.

Ethan Nadelmann, the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, 
praised Mr. Cuomo's decision as "a bold and innovative way of 
breaking the logjam" in Albany, though it may not be the final word 
on medical marijuana.

Mr. Cuomo "remains committed to developing the best medical marijuana 
law in the country," Mr. Nadelmann said. "And that's going to require 
legislative action."

The administration has much work to do before its program is 
operational: For starters, it must select the participating 
hospitals, which officials said would be chosen to assure "regional 
diversity" and according to how extensively they treat patients with 
or research pertinent illnesses like cancer or glaucoma.

Another hurdle: State and federal laws prohibit growing marijuana, 
even for medical uses, though the Obama administration has tolerated 
it. So New York will have to find an alternative supply of cannabis. 
The likely sources could include the federal government or law 
enforcement agencies, officials said.

Thomas Kaplan contributed reporting.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom